


Real Girls and Romance

by MachineQueen



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, Femslash February, Nuts and Dolts - Freeform, fluff and nonsense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-26
Updated: 2017-02-26
Packaged: 2018-09-27 01:58:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9945329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MachineQueen/pseuds/MachineQueen
Summary: Penny wants to know what ‘romance’ is like so Ruby agrees to help her conduct an experiment.





	

**Author's Note:**

> The last of my RWBY femslash February oneshots.  
> Requested by GF :-)  
> I probably made it too 'cutesy' but...  
> Please enjoy!

"Ruby, there's something I'm confused about."

Oh boy. Ruby looked up from her comic with trepidation. Conversations with Penny that began, "Ruby, there's something I'm confused about," had a tendency to go on a while. Still, she might be the only friend Penny had. As always, she would have to try and answer the question as best she could. At least Penny's guest dorm gave them some privacy so she wouldn't have to start making excuses about Penny being sheltered/homeschooled/allowed out once a year.

"Is this about anteaters again?"

"Nope."

"Boobs and gravity?"

"Nope."

"Weiss being moody?"

"Nope! This is about romance."

"Romance!?" Ruby snorted. "Why do you want to know about that for? It's all icky and sappy and gross."

"If it's gross, how come there are so many books about it? And movies? And songs?"

"I don't know," said Ruby. She pulled a face. "All that stuff is fake anyway. It's not how it really is."

"Then, how is it really?"

"Hmm," said Ruby. "Well, I wouldn't know but it just kinda seems unlikely that a real person would say 'Your eyes are lovely in the moonlight' or 'This flower does not compare to your beautiful face.'"

"But if someone did say those things to you, would you find it romantic?"

"Well, probably I'd laugh."

"But you'd love them, right?"

"No, no, no. Love and romance are very different. Ideally you have both, but sometimes you can have one without the other."

"I don't understand..."

"I wouldn't worry about it, Penny. There are a lot of people who don't understand."

"It isn't just because I'm not a real girl?"

"Nope."

"But real girls seem to really like romance, Ruby," she persisted. "I want to be like a real girl."

"Who says you have to like romance to be a real girl?" said Ruby. "I'm a real girl and I like loads of things more than romance. Like Crescent Rose. And cookies."

Penny nodded and Ruby breathed a sigh of relief. Perhaps she was satisfied now. Love and romance were awkward subjects at the best of times, let alone with cute, robotic, curious, aura-having girls.

"Ruby, do you think I'll have a romance one day?"

Ruby smiled. Finally, an easy question. "Sure, of course you will."

XxX

A knock at the dorm door roused Ruby from her usual Sunday morning lie in. She groaned and sat up. "Someone else get the door," she said feebly.

Unfortunately for her, the only one still in the dorm was Blake. Ruby heard her blankets rustle but knew she had merely turned over and gone back to sleep. The knocking continued.

"Fine," she hissed. "Lazy butt."

Leaping from the top bunk at least semi woke her up which was good because she needed enough strength to yell at whoever was on the other side of the door.

As it creaked open, she saw that it was...a huge bouquet of flowers. ...Huh?

"Good morning, Ruby. You look lovely today," said a very familiar voice. 

"Penny, you can't even see me!" protested Ruby.

"Oh! That's right. First I have to say, 'Here, for you.'"

Ruby gingerly took the flowers inside and set them on her desk. It wasn’t until she turned that she realised Penny hadn’t followed her inside. Sighing, she went back to the door.

“Penny, what is-”

“I have to say Ruby, the beauty of those flowers does not compare to your face.”

“Huh,” said Ruby. “So this is about what we talked about the other day.”

“Yes! It’s an experiment,” said Penny. “I thought we could have a romantic day together and then we can see what romance is really like. I believe it’s fundamental to my understanding of non-artificial life forms.”

“...And I guess I can’t say no to that,” Ruby concluded. She found saying no to Penny hard at the best of times and she clearly had a real bee in her bonnet about this romance thing. Maybe it would be good if Ruby helped her. Besides, a romantic day out didn’t sound so bad. What could possibly go wrong?

XxX

“The first thing to do...is go to a romantic restaurant,” said Penny. “Ta-dah!”

Ruby raised an eyebrow. Penny had led her to Vale’s premier fried chicken outlet. The queue wound out of the door and the air was decidedly chicken scented. Ruby wouldn’t dream of complaining though. In fact, this place was kind of a guilty pleasure for her. 

“Great! I’ll have the Special Fried Lunch Box with fries,” said Ruby. 

The only space they could find to sit was outside at a sorry looking wooden picnic bench. It was graffitied with initials and slogans, much to Penny’s delight. While Ruby was eating, she carefully studied the scribbled nonsense. 

“MB heart AW,” Penny read aloud. “Hearts are romantic, aren’t they?”

“Mmm,” said Ruby through a mouthful of chicken.

“So I’ll just add…”

Sparks flew from Penny’s fingers and Ruby promptly choked. “Penny!” she protested. “What are you-”

Ruby leaned over to try and hide whatever Penny was doing to the table. She seemed to be tracing something with her finger. 

PP heart RR. It was neatly scorched into the table in precise print and without a doubt would last longer than any other message scored into the wood. 

“You shouldn’t vandalise things,” hissed Ruby. But she couldn’t stop herself from smiling as she said it. 

“See? You’re smiling. It’s romantic,” said Penny. “It just happens to also be criminal damage.”

“Oi! What are you kids doing?” yelled a woman in a Vale Fried Chicken hat. 

“Uh-oh! Run!” said Ruby. 

XxX

Ruby had never ever dreamed she would spend her Sunday being pursued through Vale by a VFC employee on a moped. Luckily Penny was able to keep up with her frantic roof leaping. It was certainly a novel way to see a city. 

The chase had driven them to an area of Vale Ruby didn’t know very well. Penny was following some kind of internal compass but the pair seemed to be heading towards the city’s borders, further and further from civilisation. 

“Penny...let's slow down,” said Ruby. “We should work out where we are.” 

“We're in Vale.”

“Yes,” said Ruby patiently. “But where? Beacon Tower looks awfully far away right now.” 

“I heard parks were pretty romantic so I was taking us to one,” said Penny. 

They looked around doubtfully. This part of the city seemed to be abandoned. There were a few smashed streetlights and rubble paths. The buildings they'd gone past seemed dark and lifeless. 

“Perhaps my geolocation systems need updating,” said Penny. She had her sad face on. Ruby couldn't have that. 

On spotting something that resembled a street sign, she went for a closer look. Below a layer of dust and grit she could see the word “PARK”. 

“Well, we may as well check it out now we're here,” she said. 

XxX

The way to the park was equally as desolate. It was kind of exciting to walk down roads that no one else had walked for months. Weeds sprouted between cracks in the concrete and Ruby found herself impressed by the persistency of life.

Penny skipped ahead, one hundred per cent dedicated to the idea of a park. 

Finally they reached an iron arch and a gate. Beyond the gate was a stretch of jewel green dotted with blossom trees. Pink petals littered the grass. It was a stark contrast to the grey, ruined streets outside. And, to Penny’s credit, something about it was certainly romantic. 

“The park!” said Penny, her eyes lighting up.

“How do we get in?” said Ruby, giving the bars in the gate an experimental shake. 

“YA!” said Penny, tugging a bar. It bent, creaked and finally split apart. Penny continued to tug until a girl sized hole remained. Penny stepped through first before offering a hand to Ruby.

XxX

The park was pretty as a postcard with a clear stream running through the centre. The sound of the water was soothing, as was the gentle sigh of the wind through the autumn blossom trees.

“It’s peaceful...” said Ruby, stopping to look up through the branches of a tree. 

“Is it romantic?” asked Penny. She looked hopeful.

“Mm-hmm,” Ruby nodded. “Definitely.”

Penny beamed and grasped Ruby’s hand. But before Ruby had time to respond, a howl rang out through the air and Penny paled.

“Was that-” Ruby’s hand flew to where Crescent Rose was sheathed.

“Grimm,” Penny said. “We should go. Sorry, Ruby.”

The howl sounded again, closer this time. Ruby swallowed. She couldn’t stop herself from feeling anxious- this wasn’t like being at Beacon. Weiss, Blake and Yang were miles away. She only had Penny to rely on. 

They dashed for the gate but luck had turned against them. Two Beowolves guarded it. One rammed against the hole Penny had made in the bars, trying to escape out into the city. The other growled at them, hackles up. 

Ruby decided not to waste any more time. She leapt one way, Penny leapt the other and the Grimm charged at the space where they’d been. It rammed itself head first into a tree and howled again. Luckily for them this didn’t seem like a particularly intelligent creature. One of Penny’s swords crashed into the tree trunk above it. When Ruby looked over, she saw Penny was surrounded by several other of her signature blades and appeared to be taking careful aim at the Grimm. Meanwhile, the other had abandoned the gate and lowered its head, ready to charge. Penny seemed oblivious, focusing all her efforts on nailing the first Grimm.

Before it had time to attack, Ruby used Crescent Rose to propel herself towards the second. She managed to knock it aside. It roared and reared up, but she felled it in one swift swipe of her scythe. These guys were small fry- she had no idea why she’d been so worried. 

When she looked back, Penny had finished off the other Grimm. As it crumbled away, Penny gave her a thumbs up. Ruby smiled, relieved.

Her relief was short-lived. 

From the depths of the park, a cry rang out. From her time in the Emerald Forest, Ruby recognised it. It was the cry of a Nevermore. Thinking fast, she tried to formulate a strategy. But there was no time- the Nevermore had found them. 

Penny shot her swords but half of them missed. 

“Go for a big attack!” Ruby called, remembering the way Penny had blasted her way through an airship. Penny nodded and recalled her swords, ready to charge up.

Ruby realised that her job had to be to distract, so she loaded some dust cartridges and shot at it with her weapon’s rifle function. The beast shook away the rounds like they were nothing. Ruby hit the ground and rolled as it unleashed a barrage of feathers. As long as it was attacking her, Penny was safe. Just a few more seconds-

One of Ruby’s shots connected between the Nevermore’s shoulder and wing, sending it plummeting to the ground. Mid-plummet, Penny’s attack was finally ready to go. It hit the beast full on, sizzling its feathers. By the time it hit the ground, it was a sorry beast indeed.

Ruby delivered the finishing blow to its head and like the Beowolves, it crumbled away into dust.

XxX

Satisfied, Ruby hummed to herself. She felt like the battle in the park had moved her one step closer to being a huntress. The rush she got after beating Grimm- nothing in the world was better. 

“The way you protected me- I think it was romantic,” announced Penny.

They had hightailed it back into the centre of Vale. As pretty as the park had been, Ruby was glad to leave it behind. If they’d been further inside the park and more Grimm had congregated- she dreaded to think about what might have happened. She’d made Penny promise not to go back- or at least not on her own. 

“Romantic?” spluttered Ruby. “You could have died!”

Yet part of her was still pleased. After all, she wanted to become a huntress so she could protect people- especially her friends and loved ones. 

“Hmm, I suppose so,” said Penny. “But you saved me, Ruby!”

Penny had insisted on walking Ruby back to her dorm, as it was the final item on her romantic checklist. She didn’t seem worried about their run in with the Grimm in the slightest. 

“The experiment was a success!” said Penny. “Thank you, Ruby. I’ve had a lot of fun.”

Ruby swallowed. She wasn’t quite sure how to get this next bit out. “Me too,” she said. “And actually, you might think this is a dumb idea but- maybe we could do it again sometime?”

There was a beat before Penny replied and it was only in that moment that Ruby realised how much she wanted Penny to say ‘yes’.

“Can we really?” asked Penny and when Ruby nodded, she flashed her best smile. “Then I’d be delighted to!”


End file.
